Speak Now
by OliviaKatetheGreat
Summary: Lily and Scorpius are getting married.  Rose, despite her "perfect" relationship, is going to stop this.  Lily and Scor don't like this, the Weasleys don't like this.  What has Rosie done?
1. Chapter 1

Rose Weasley slipped her foot into her silver sandal. Her pale green dress matched the headband in her wavy auburn hair. Looking down at her cousin, she grabbed the white veil and held it over her head.

"Fits you perfectly, no?" Rose prepares to set it down on her head, but is stopped by her aunt.

"No, Rose, pins, remember?" Rose nods and steps back to let Aunt Ginny pin the veil securely over Lily's hair. Lily's cheeks are flushed, and her eyes sparkle. She grins as they fix the tiara over her head. All the Weasley women have worn it for their weddings.

"I can't believe that unless than two hours I'm going to be Mrs. Scorpius Malfoy. Lily Malfoy. " She clasps her hands together, and Rose tries not to be sick. A year ago when the save-the-date went out, she had been sick. He had been _her _Scor. But she had broken up with him, and a year and a half later, he was dating her cousin. Now they were getting married. Rose Malfoy sounds a sight better than Lily Malfoy.

Rose doesn't throw up. Instead, she laughs along with Lily. She excuses herself to "touch up her make up" and heads to the bathroom, thanking whoever gave her somewhat convincing acting skills. Waving to Teddy and Victoire's oldest, little Dora all dressed up in her bridesmaid outfit, she plasters her most convincing smile on her face. Dora grins back. Her little green dress is identical to Rose's maid-of-honor dress. This realization is the only thing keeping the smile on Rose's face. The maid-of-honor should not be in love with the groom.

Never the less, it takes all of her will power to not cry. She takes deep breaths on the rim of the tub. She has to be happy today. She looks in the mirror, straightens the neckline of her dress, and frowns. The green goes so well with Lily's hair, Scor's eyes, really, everyone. It would go with her hair and freckles too.

She leaves the bathroom, and heads back to Lily. Lily is standing up. Her veil floats like mist over her hair, her dress floats like mist too. Her diamond engagement ring shines on her finger. She grabs her bouquet of white lilies, and then Uncle Harry is there. The two talk, but Rose doesn't listen. This moment belongs to Lily and her father.

And then they're walking down the stairs of the Burrow, and it's all happening way too fast, and Rose doesn't know what to do. They are walking to music, now. Past her numerous cousins and their children- she thinks the last count was above forty. Four of the little ones are bridesmaids and pageboys today. Past her mum, and Aunt Ginny, who are crying. Up at the altar, Albus and Scor stand together. They all were best friends in school, the next Golden Trio. Even though Scor told no one about his choice of best man, they all knew it was Al.

Then she stands off to the side, listening to the tufty wizard start talking. She has no idea what to do. Her mind wanders away from the ceremony, to when she was little and still best friends with Lily. She remembers a time when she was small, dancing to a Muggle song on Granddad Arthur's radio. Taylor something, was it? Sweep? Swift? Her mum and Aunt Ginny had liked one song, something about a girl standing up at someone's wedding? And that's when it hits her. It was so obvious; she wondered why she didn't think of it before.

So when the preacher says, "Speak now or forever hold your peace," she takes a step forward She does still have her Gryffindor courage after all.

"I object," her voice carries over the stillness of the tent. Lily looks at her in horror, steely hatred beginning to make it's way into her eyes. Scorpius glares at her, and Albus makes a move towards his wand. In the audience, Hugo is shaking his head, Ginny looks furious, her parents look ashamed and they glance at each other grimacing. Gran stands there an expression of shame and anger evident on her normally cheerful face; Granddad is trying to calm her. Scor's dad looks at her like she is complete filth.

"Just thought you'd like to know," she drops her lily on the ground, steps over it, and makes her way to the edge of the tent. It was the last time she spoke to most of her family. She knows this, but right now, she doesn't care.

She apparates away to her Diagon Alley flat. She starts a cup of tea boiling with her wand, and sits down and begins to cry. She can't believe what she just did. Walked out on them, just like awful Uncle Percy did twice. She will hate herself, and them forever.

She supposes the wedding still goes on, and it does. There is an announcement in the Daily Prophet the next day. She reads it after she wakes up, still at the table, and cries again. At the Ministry, she heads to her office, praying one of her numerous family won't see her. She is lucky; she is summoned to courtroom three, on a case completely different from her mother's today.

Later, though, Maureen Brown-Finnegan stops her in the corridor. She feels a stab of guilt pierce her. Maureen is Riley's brother. Oh. She completely forgot about her boyfriend.

Maureen shakes her head. "Riley is pretty torn up. So is the rest of your family, by the way. Lily made it through the rest of the ceremony, but they had to nearly curse Al so he wouldn't go after her. We're only lucky that I could easily turn my sash to silver. The ceremony went on rather well after that."

"They- they replaced me?" Rose is nothing but indignant.

"How could they not? Did you not expect them to?"

"I expected to replace her."

"If you really had a problem with the two getting married, then you should have said something earlier. That was her day, and you ruined it. You also should have broken it off with my brother. I thought you were smart, Rose. You were top of your year. That was the stupidest thing you ever could have done. It was probably the stupidest thing I've ever seen anyone do. You'll want to Floo or owl Riley, later. He wants a word with you." Maureen turns around and leaves. Rose nearly starts crying, but the sight of Roxanne coming towards her stops her. Roxanne ignores her, and Rose leaves.

In her office, though, is a note from Riley. It is simple and to the point. _Rose, we need to talk. Floo me later. –Riley. _She is in no way looking forward to this. She supposes she has to anyway, and writes him a short reply. She will, she writes, just as soon as she gets home.

The rest of the day passes faster than she would like, the threat of Riley looming like a storm cloud. She decides to do her errands today, she wants to put as much time as possible between now and when she gets home. When she goes to Gringott's she is lucky enough to be standing behind Louis. He holds grudges better than any other Weasley, and doesn't notice her until her turns around to go. He glares a glare so full of hatred that she nearly cries out. If this is Louis's reaction, imagine Al's. Oh no. What on earth was she going to say? What on earth was she going to do? She decides to drop by his flat. It's at the other end of Diagon Alley from hers. When she gets there, though, and knocks on the door, she isn't prepared for what she sees. The man who opens it has obviously been crying. The man behind him glares at Rose with very familiar green eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own this. If I did, I wouldn't be wasting my life here. ;)**

Albus Severus Potter stands there, glaring at Rose. Riley, who opened the door, runs a hand through his sandy hair. He takes a step back, leaving Rose to her cousin.

"What are you doing here, Rose?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" She sounds indignant, but her voice quavers slightly.

"It just so happens that I'm- helping- Riley." Albus spits back at Rose. His eyes show hatred, his fingers clench his wand. It's anger that he inherited from both of his parents, Ginny more so. He looks a lot like his dad's press photographs, angry at the photographer. Only this time his anger isn't directed to Rita Skeeter, or that other girl, Romilda Vane. It's directed at Rose. She tries not to flinch.

A year ago, Al probably would have said Rose was his favourite cousin. Now, it was evident that he hated her.

"What did you think you were playing at, anyway? It's a good thing that no reporters were there; the papers would have had a field day. Honestly, Rose. I don't know what you were thinking, but you totally ruined whatever relationship you still had with Scorpius, and Lily refused to even talk about you. You complete idiot." He finishes berating her. Rose just stands there, trying to stop the blush, the ashamed expression. She knew this could happen when she stepped forward, right? But the truth is, she didn't. She had thought it would all work out. She had thought she and Scor would go off into the sunset. Happily ever after. She hadn't given a single thought to Lily.

"To be perfectly honest, Al, I don't know." And to her utter embarrassment, she starts to cry. "Would you let me talk to Riley?" She gestures to her boyfriend, who is gazing avidly out the window, at the busy Diagon Alley street. Al nods, and steps out the door. He will probably be listening, but Rose doesn't care as much as she thought she would.

"Riley?" Rose is tentative, her voice is timid. She is still crying, slightly, but not much. He shrugs in response, either ignoring her, or not wanting to speak.

"What was that all about, Rose?" He slowly turns to face her. He doesn't look angry, like Maureen or Al, just sad.

"I really don't know." It's the first time in her life that she has had to say those words twice in one day. She's always known. "I really don't know," she repeats, starting to cry even harder.

"You really don't know. Really. You had no idea you loved Scorpius? You had no idea that Lily did too?" He isn't shouting; they could be having a pleasant conversation. She would rather have him shout at her. His blue eyes are so full of disappointment that she almost can't take it. Somehow, she can't look anywhere other than his eyes. It's one of the things she loved about him. They were dark blue, almost purple and right now, they shone with tears that he wasn't going to shed. She looks at her feet, only to miss and look at the carpet, with the coffee stain from that morning when she tripped, and they ended up laughing, covered in coffee.

"You're just going to stay silent, then?" Riley turns to face the window. Albus is hurrying along the road, heading directly for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"He must have got bored." It slips out of Rose's mouth before she can stop herself. Really, she needs to think before saying anything. Not thinking was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

"Well, there isn't much of a dramatic break-up scene going on in here." The corners of Riley's mouth turn up slightly.

"Is this what this is? A dramatic break-up scene?" Rose moves over to the window. Riley moves away a little, giving her more space.

"I guess we can make it whatever. Honestly, though, I think we should take a break. Something like this isn't quite what you could get over easily." Rose isn't quite sure how they got from crying and calm to a pleasant conversation. This is one of the things she likes about Riley. Scorpius would probably have hexed her.

"A few weeks, then? We can talk in a month, and see how things are. We'll see from there." Rose says quietly. Somehow, she doesn't think they will be together anytime soon. Riley nods. In the street, Al is hurrying back, apparently not wanting to leave them alone for too long. When upset, Rose could be quite unpredictable. Scorpius still had the scar from the fight that led to their break up back in fifth year.

"I'll see you around." He turns away from the window, and walks to his room.

"See you around," Rose barely whispers at his retreating figure. She hurries to the door of his apartment and Apparates away as quickly as possible. She wanted to avoid a one on one meeting with Al.

**Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry I didn't update sooner, it's been what, a month and a half? I'll try to be a little quicker now, though. Sorry again….**

**~OliviaKate**


	3. Chapter 3

**To be honest, I have absolutely no excuse whatsoever for not updating this for nine months, and I am extremely sorry about that. I really do feel bad about that, and I promise that I won't let it happen again with this story. **

**This chapter is in response to a few reviews I got about Lily's behavior regarding the fact that she was stealing her cousin's boyfriend. In this storyline, Rose and Scorpius dated from their 3****rd**** year to mid 4****th**** year. After Rose broke up with Scorpius, they dated other people for around three years before Scorpius fell for Lily, who had liked him since she saw him at King's Cross. They dated from Lily's fifth year to their wedding day. Rose, who realized that she still loved Scor realized it too late, remember, she was in a relationship at the time of Lily's wedding. This chapter is from Lily's POV.**

The rain poured down in London. Dark coated businessmen ignored it; Rain in London wasn't uncommon, just a bother, as it hadn't been in the forecast, it was a bother to the few people who forgot umbrellas. As they trudged to work, they looked down at smartphones, preoccupied with their own lives, oblivious to the other oblivious people around them. They ignored the redheaded woman who sprinted through the rain. She had no protection from the weather, and if you looked closely enough, there were tears streaming down her face, mixing with the rain. This woman, well known to a tiny population of London, was Lily Malfoy.

Lily ducked and weaved through the throngs of people. She cursed herself for not apparating. If she had, she'd be dry now. If only she hadn't wanted to delay, make sure she was late. Lily wanted to take up time, make sure she didn't get there. Ignorance is bliss. She'd be happier if she didn't find out. But curiosity killed the cat, and Lily found herself in front of a "Closed for Refurbishment" sign before she knew it.

"I'm here on a—on a visit." Her voice caught, and she looked down. The model nodded, and Lily stepped through the glass. Skipping the Welcome Witch altogether, she walked slowly across the waiting room. It was quiet for once. There were few people around to point and say, "Look! There's Lily! You know, Lily Malfoy? Harry Potter's daughter?", and then take a picture of her. She was thankful. She wouldn't be able to handle reporters today.

Lily took the stairs instead of an elevator. She needed time to collect herself, and time to perform the extensive drying charms she would need. She knew where to go too. Occasionally, someone close to her, a brother or cousin, or maybe her husband, was injured during work. Somehow they always wound up in the same room. And then most of the family would show up, and they would all wait together, until the person was discharged, moved somewhere else, or in the worst case, at the very least, they would be around to comfort the parents and spouse of the victim. They'd never had a death before, though. Never before had they had to comfort a grieving spouse. But what if this time…

Lily couldn't finish the sentence. The letter summoning her to the hospital had been grave. It had been a hard battle, against the increasingly rare Death Eater supporter, and most of her family had been there. Suddenly, she had to know. Why on earth had she delayed? She sprinted up the last few steps of the flight. Breathing heavily, she burst into the waiting room. And she knew something was wrong. Albus and James sat against a wall, beat up but alive, thank Merlin. Victoire, Hugo, Louis and Molly sat together. They and Lily, out of the twelve Weasley grandchildren, were the only five who weren't Aurors. The entire family sobbed, and Hugo, Lily saw, was staring at nothing in disbelief. And as Scorpius walked up to her, she realized.

Rose Weasley was dead.

In a small house not far from London, Lily Malfoy woke with a gasp. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she struggled to breathe normally. It was only a dream, she thought. But it had seemed so real. And it had been realistic. But here she was, in bed, on a Monday morning. Scorpius was already at work. She had mail on her bedside table from her Quidditch manager, a note from her mother about dinner next week, nothing amiss.

Lily hadn't talked to Rose since her wedding a month ago. As she thought over her dream, Lily realized that if Rose really had died, she would have died with this gap between them. Rose would have died without knowing that Lily, however angry with her, still cared about her. Was there anything to be done, though, about this falling out? Half of the family still wouldn't even speak to Rose. And Lily wasn't about to get divorced to bridge this gap. But if Lily hadn't dated Scorpius after Rose, this never would have happened.

Lily got out of bed and walked over to the window. She looked down at her garden, at the rows of lilies Scorpius had insisted they plant surrounding the swing, at the rosebushes they surrounded. Once, you couldn't have separated the tow cousins. Now, only in the garden, were they together. And Lily realized. Somehow she'd have to repair her bond with Rose.


End file.
